After a night of unremitting tension and drama in the
immense Nou Camp Stadium, United reached the European
Cup Final. Once again Joe Jordan’s head unlocked Barcelona’s
defensive door, flicking on David Stewart’s lengthy clearance to Peter Lorimer, who despatched a trademark right-foot shot past
Salvador Sadurni. It was Peter Lorimer’s
thirtieth goal in Europe, a British record, but few were
more precious.

In the second leg of their European Cup Semi-Final encounter
with Barcelona, United silenced the
110,000 crowd as Peter Lorimer’s early goal gave United much-needed breathing space, as it achieved two
things. It increased United’s overall lead but it
also gave United a precious away goal. Barcelona had still not given up the
ghost and the Catalonians pushed forward at every opportunity to try to pull
back their deficit and for the remainder of the match United hung on
desperately to their two goal overall cushion. Barcelona needed to score thee
times to prevent Leeds from becoming only the second English side to reach the
European Cup Final after Manchester United seven years earlier.

Barcelona had started at break-neck speed with a Juan Carlos
Heredia header flashing just wide but Lorimer’s thunderous strike had knocked the wind out of the
Catalan team’s sails and United defended with admiral poise for the rest of the
first half with Frank Gray, at left back, giving Carlos Rexach
little room to manoeuvre while Gordon McQueen repelled all Barca’s
high balls into the box.

Bur United’s authority vanished at
the start of the second half as Barcelona
introduced Joaquim Rife and pushed talented sweeper
Mario Marinho further forward. As well as tactical
changes, Barcelona added much more
aggression to their game and Joe Jordan required four stitches in a cheek after
clashing with a defender. Dutch ace Johan Neeskens
made some big hits in midfield and Francisco Gallego
was cautioned for a nasty foul on Billy Bremner as
United felt the onslaught.

The fanatical 110,000 crowd sensed United were wilting as Cruyff and Co seized control of the midfield, but time was
running out for the home team. All United had to do was keep a cool head and
see out the last half hour or so. However, the pressure was mounting on United
by the minute and their splendid defence finally cracked. The inevitable
equaliser on the night came, after sixty-nine minutes, when Manuel Clares headed in Francisco Gallego’s
free-kick from the right. Minutes later United’s
chances of survival took a turn for the worse when Gordon McQueen was
justifiably sent off for a stupid rush of blood. McQueen allowed his temper to
get the better of him and when scorer Manuel Clares
pulled the tall Scots shirt as they tangled for possession the Leeds
defender retaliated and struck the Barcelona
forward. It meant that he automatically missed the Final and left United with
ten men for the last twenty minutes against a rampant Barcelona going flat out
for an equaliser or better.

The home fans pumped more voltage into the electric night
air as chants of “Barca,Barca” boomed out of the
cavernous Nou Camp and United’s
survival odds instantly lengthened but on a night of heroes one man emerged
from their ranks to defy the rampant Barcelona attack, Goalkeeper David
Stewart, who was simply unbeatable in the final stages. Trevor Cherry, the
former HuddersfieldTown defender, had taken over Paul Madeley’s assignment in the home leg by man-marking Johan Cruyff and had done a remarkably effective job in keeping Cruyff’s influence on the game down to a minimum. And he continued
to do so, while the rest of the United side pulled together to offset Gordon
McQueen’s absence and prevent Barcelona
entering the Final. But it was David Stewart who superbly kept out a Juan
Carlos Heredia header before he somehow saved
one-handed a deflected Johan Cruyff shot. Seconds
remained when Johan Neeskens headed the ball down to
Johan Cruyff close to goal, but before he could get
in a shot David Stewart had bravely smothered the ball at his feet. It was the
final act on possibly the greatest night in United’s
history.

In the end they hung on for a 1-1 draw and a 3-2 aggregate
win thanks to some brilliant defending and superb David Stewart saves which
enabled United to reach their first European Cup Final and a chance to lift the
most coveted of all the European Trophies. Manager Jimmy Armfield
said, “This must be the high spot of my football life and I include in that
some great experiences as a player.”

Match Action:

Peter Lorimer scores
for Leeds

United celebrate Peter Lorimers’s
goalDavid Stewart wins the ball in the air watched by Allan Clarke